It's been 25 years since Rick Hansen overcame what many would consider a major impediment to his completion of the round the world Man In Motion Tour to raise awareness of spinal cord injury and funds for spinal cord research. Hansen's feat, completed in a wheelchair, inspired the world.
This year, to mark the 25th anniversary of the event, the Rick Hansen Relay was staged both to commemorate Hansen's achievement and to inspire everyone, especially those who have lived with spinal cord injury and ailments. One such local person who participated the relay in Moosomin is Rhonda Bailey.
A silver commemorative medal was struck by the Royal Canadian Mint to mark the event. The solid silver medal which weighed one pound was carried by hand from Newfoundland across Canada by relay runners and is to be delivered to Hansen in his home in Vancouver, B.C.
The medal arrived at the school in Saskatchewan at Moosomin School where a team of four runners ran it through the town out to the edge of the Moosomin where another team of runners took it over to deliver it to Grenfell.
Because the group of four was so small and had such a short distance to run, they decided to run the one kilometre distance together as a group, Bailey recalls.
Bailey saw an ad on television recruiting people called 'difference makers'. They were people who may have had some challenges with spinal injury in their lives.
Bailey contacted the association which listened to her story. Following a series of emails she was selected to be a medal bearer in the Rick Hansen Man In Motion Relay.
Bailey was diagnosed with osteoarthritis of the spinal column at the age of 27. She was advised to undergo a spinal fusion which, she says, would have possibly placed her into a wheelchair for the rest of her life. After consulting with many people in similar straits as well as physicians, Bailey chose to find other ways to avoid surgery.
She was advised by former Yorkton orthopedic surgeon Dr. Van Sittert to put off surgery and to find other ways to live strong, be happy and live above the pain. "I took it to heart and all these years later I'm 45 and physically strong," Bailey claims.
She says she tries to use alternate methods of pain manage-ment. Be--cause of her experience Bailey left her job to open her spa, Luna Experience. "I sort of felt I had some information that I could pass on to other people on how to live with issues of pain and deal with them so you can live your life and not let the pain control you," she states.
Bailey says she was inspired by Hansen when he came through 25 years ago. When she learned of the current relay, she decided she wanted to be a part of the event. She was one of 7,000 medal bearers chosen to participate.
The medal is being passed hand to hand through all 7,000 medal bearers until it is handed to Hansen in Vancou-ver.
Medal bearers each received a commemorative medal as a keepsake of the event as well as the tracksuits and toques, which while welcome, weren't all that necessary given the recent weather, Bailey closes.
